Myroslava Gongadze, widow of murdered Internet journalist Heorhy Gongadze, describes Jaroslaw Koshiw's book, Beheaded: The Killing of a Journalist as follows:

Myroslava Gongadze with Madeleine Albright When he began to work on the book, Yarko Koshiw came to me in Kyiv and said: "I am planning to write this book."  I really did not believe that it would happen.  When he was in Washington recently, I reminded him that I had not believed that he would do it.  It is an admirable project and a job well done.  He undertook a very difficult task and I think that he produced a work of quality. I am very glad that he puts the problem of the murder of Heorhii into a historical context.  He does not merely relate what happened with him; he tells what happened to other journalists and political activists up to the time that Heorhii was killed.  Basically, he opens our eyes to the large number of crimes that have been committed in Ukraine, a country under the leadership of President Kuchma.  This book is a documented history of the investigation process, of the killing of Heorhii and, basically, a documented history of contemporary Ukraine.  The book includes a large number of facts and it explains, in great detail, the investigation process which, I think, is its primary achievement. Above text is from Artemia Press at www.artemiapress.co.uk/cnb/shop/artemia?op=article-news-null; photo is from National Endowment For Democracy at www.ned.org/publications/winter02.html

Beheaded can be purchased in hard cover

Obezholovlenyi can either be purchased in hard cover, or read here in pdf format for free (3.4 mb)

Unfortunately for Leonid Kuchma's chances of avoiding criminal prosecution for ordering that murder, Beheaded is selling well from the Artemia Press web site at www.artemiapress.co.uk.  And still more damaging to Kuchma's chances of avoiding punishment is that Artemia Press is selling also the Ukrainian version of the book � Obezholovlenyi.  And most damaging of all is that the Ukrainian version is available in pdf format for free, and can be read by anyone who visits the Artemia web site, or who cares to click either the image on the right, or else the underlined link below the image.

It follows that anyone who cares to save a copy of Obezholovlenyi on his own computer, perhaps to ensure its preservation or perhaps for further distribution, can do so by right-clicking the same image or link, then clicking "Save target as."  And it goes without saying that hard copies can readily be printed and circulated.

The relevance to you is that the information-starved Eastern Ukrainians who at the moment feel some sympathy for the Kuchma-Putin-Yanukovych coalition, are by the above means given access to some important details of what this coalition is really like, which brings to mind the possibility that as Eastern Ukrainians approach Western Ukrainians in information, they will also approach Western Ukrainians in political preference.  In other words, the wide availability of Obezholovlenyi to Eastern Ukrainians may be expected to bring them around to the view that they deserve a brighter future than would be possible under the rule of domestic gangsters propped up by the Kremlin.  In the limit, if every Eastern Ukrainian read Obezholovlenyi, then electoral support for Viktor Yanukovych would evaporate.

Myroslava and Heorhy Gongadze with twins.  Demonstrating that NKVD sadism has not been renounced by some post-Soviet leaders is the BBC disclosure, "Officials also confirmed that he was beheaded while still alive."  news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2234645.stm.  Additional indication of NKVD-reminiscent torture can be found in the 03-Jan-2004 Prytulak letter to Kuchma, Was Heorhy (Georgi) Gongadze tortured?.  Perhaps Kuchma-Putin-Yanukovych are wrong to imagine that Western and Eastern Ukrainians differ much in their attitude toward torturing journalists to death.

Beheaded and Obezholovlenyi are lead weights tied to Kuchma and Yanukovych which have already pulled them underwater.  Having chosen to chain yourself to them, you now find yourself struggling to stay afloat.  If your predicament surprises you, then you do not play the game of life as well as you are said to play the game of chess.

Lubomyr Prytulak